US stocks mixed

The Dow Jones industrials and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index notched a fourth straight week of advances after a day of mixed trading today, when optimistic investors started to wonder whether stock prices were getting a bit high.

Trading was choppy on a day of little economic news and due to today’s so-called quadruple-witching day, the quarterly expiration of index futures and options as well as individual stock futures and options.

“It’s been an amazing week, and we are trying to add to some of the gains,” said Peter Dunay, chief market strategist at Wall Street Access, a New York-based brokerage firm. He cited better-than-expected reports earlier in the week that pointed to strong manufacturing and low inflation.

“The economics are getting so much attention that as long as they stay positive” investors are looking to buy, Dunay said.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 30.14, or 0.3%, at 10,278.22, following a three-day gain of 225 points. The blue-chip average finished today at the highest level since May 17, 2002, when it stood at 10,353.08.

But the broader market finished lower. The Nasdaq composite index declined 5.16, or 0.3%, to 1,951.02.

And the Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 0.51, or 0.1%, to 1,088.67. On Thursday, the index rose to its highest closing level since 23 May, 2002.

For the week, the Dow advanced 2.4%, the Nasdaq edged up 0.1% and the S&P rose 1.45.

Stocks traded mostly higher for much of the morning before losing some momentum in the afternoon. Traders said rumours of a terrorist threat in New York City put pressure on the market, even though a city police spokesman said there was no “credible intelligence pointing to a specific or imminent terrorist threat”.

“The market did come in a little bit, but what we’re seeing here is a normal quadruple-witching day,” said Peter Cardillo, president and chief strategist of Global Partner Securities Inc.

“As far as this year, we probably have approached the high end of a trading range,” he added. “It probably will be a give and take from now until the end of the year.”

Dow component Alcoa climbed 92 cents to $37.30 after Morgan Stanley raised the stock rating of the aluminium producer to “overweight” from “equal-weight”.

Red Hat jumped $3.21 to $17.49 after the provider of Linux-based operating systems reported third-quarter earnings that met expectations - the company also said it was acquiring Sistina Software in a $31 million stock deal.

Losers included Dow components McDonald’s, which fell 51 cents to $24.30, and Procter & Gamble, which declined $1.79 to $97.52.

Paychex dropped $2.46 to $36.52 after Wachovia Securities lowered the stock rating of the provider of payroll services to small businesses to “market perform” from “outperform”.

Declining issues narrowly outnumbered advancers on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was heavy.

The Russell 2000 index, which tracks smaller company stocks, slipped $0.02 to $546.88.